Lighthouse celebrates annual Harvest Festival

By JACOB DORAN / Bigfork Eagle

For the fourth consecutive year, the staff and residents of Lighthouse Christian Home invited friends, family and Flathead residents to join them on their 40-acre property on North Somers Road to take part in their annual celebration of harvest and community.

The organization s fourth annual Harvest Festival, which took place last Saturday, drew scores of people from all over the Valley, who took part in everything from face painting to mini-golf and from hayrides to cow-chip bingo.

The Lighthouse Christian Home is a group home that helps developmentally disabled individuals contribute to their communities.

Throughout the day, Harvest Festival organizers arranged a full lineup of performances from special singers, as well as by two headliner groups, Tradewinds Band and Blue Onion Band, to keeps guests entertained.

Last year s festival saw a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, who packed into the makeshift parking lot in the field next to the group home and formed an impressive crowd, that spilled into each of the many areas of the festival. Even so, organizers said their goal has been to increase the numbers with every festival.

Building on a reputation for being a fun fall event for families, this year s festival even drew politicians like Rep. Jon Sonju (HD 7), whose church has an affiliation with Lighthouse, and Carla Augustad (a contender for HD 10), who has befriended some of the Lighthouse residents.

Organizers benefited from the response of families who noticed the fliers placed on church bulletins around the Valley, announcing the festival s date and time. Between the fliers and increased word of mouth, Lighthouse staff said they were pleased to see some new faces they had not seen at previous festivals.

Many local churches contributed volunteers, who helped in a variety of ways and areas throughout the afternoon. And, as always, the latest class of volunteers from Potters Field Ranch were on hand to help visitors and Lighthouse residents get the full festival experience from the games and other activities.

Program director Shirley Willis said that the Lighthouse staff and residents felt blessed by the amount of support they have received from local communities and the great fall weather that Saturday afforded.

It s been really, really good, Willis said of the past year. We ve tried to focus more on getting the word out. We want to let the community know that we exist, that this is a good program and that we rely on the community in all sorts of ways. We ve accomplished a lot of that in the past year, but we still have a ways to go.

This is our fourth year for the festival, and we ve established a little more of a routine, but it s really a lot of work for both the staff and the residents. This year, we ve had more volunteers become involved, which has been very helpful.

Willis said the staff and residents begin preparations a couple of weeks in advance of the festival, getting the animals ready, cleaning corrals, baking items for the bake sale, assembling prize baskets for the raffles from items donated by area businesses, and readying the crafts, games and entertainment for the big day.

This year, Denman Construction, Western Building Company and Flathead Builders Association all pitched in to help erect a gazebo in time for the festival. The gazebo, which was utilized by the musicians who performed during the festival, will also be used throughout the year by Lighthouse residents.

Willis extended her gratitude to volunteers and staff members, as well as to everyone who had donated items or in some way contributed to both the Lighthouse and (the fall festival. She praised Lighthouse staff for their consistency and dependability, pointing out that each of the staff members has been committed at all levels, for the long term, which means that she has not had to hire new staff for more than a year.

Everyone likes what they do here, Willis said. They like their job and they like the ministry that we do. They love the residents. This staff is just amazing. They work so hard to get ready for this.

The volunteers, as well. The volunteers are so important. We couldn t do it without them. They have been truly wonderful this year and have helped out in so many ways.

The Harvest Festival is the only onsite fundraiser held by the Lighthouse group home. Although the funds raised during the event help offset operational expenses, Willis explained that the primary focus of the event isn t the money.

The real focus, she said, is on residents of the group home interacting and building relationships with the community, which makes them feel like they a part of the community. In addition, using their own labors to produce crafts or baked goods to sell during the festival gives them a sense of worth and a motivation to contribute in other ways, taking ownership of their role at Lighthouse and gaining self-confidence in the process.

The whole focus of the festival and everything that we do at Lighthouse is for the residents to be happy and to live a fulfilling life, Willis said.

And, if the looks on their faces as they laughed, played games and danced away the afternoon with visitors on Saturday was any indication of their happiness or enjoyment of the life they have been given, the festival was an overwhelming success.